Ken Krawetz

Kenneth Patrick Krawetz was born on April 15, 1951, in Canora, Saskatchewan, the son of Peter Krawetz and Annie Okrainetz. He spent his life in the Canora-Pelly area, a rural east-central Saskatchewan region with deep Ukrainian Canadian roots. Farming, local schools, and small-town civic life shaped the outlook he later carried into provincial politics. Neighbours knew him as a teacher, trustee, insurance broker, and farmer long before they knew him as a cabinet minister.

Krawetz earned a Bachelor of Education from the University of Saskatchewan in 1975. He taught for roughly eleven years in Invermay and served nine years on the Canora School Board, including as board chair. Those years grounded his later work as Education Minister. He also served six years with the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association, including two as president, and received the Canada 125 Medal in 1993 for community service.

Elected in 1995 as a Liberal for Canora-Pelly, Krawetz became Leader of the Opposition in 1996. In 1997 he helped create the Saskatchewan Party with fellow Liberals and Progressive Conservatives. He served as the party's first interim leader (1997-1998) and kept the Opposition leadership until Elwin Hermanson took a seat after the 1999 election. Re-elected repeatedly, he became deputy leader under Brad Wall in 2004 and entered government after the 2007 victory.

Wall appointed Krawetz Deputy Premier and Minister of Education in 2007. A June 29, 2010 shuffle moved him to Finance while he remained Deputy Premier. He presented successive provincial budgets and became a recognizable voice of Saskatchewan Party fiscal policy until May 21, 2015. In April 2014 he announced he would not run again. After leaving cabinet he served as Legislative Secretary on Saskatchewan-Ukraine relations until leaving the legislature on April 4, 2016.

Of Ukrainian Canadian descent, Krawetz made Holodomor remembrance and Saskatchewan-Ukraine ties a signature cause. He promoted awareness during the famine-genocide's 75th anniversary and helped pass the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor Memorial Day) Act. In January 2009 President Viktor Yushchenko awarded him the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. He travelled to Ukraine in 2008, 2010, and 2013, and in 2022 spoke out after Russia's full-scale invasion, urging stronger Western action and support for displaced Ukrainians.

Krawetz married Gail Jean Maleschuk on July 14, 1972. They raised Bryce and Lindsay on the family farm near Invermay. He served as an Invermay village councillor, ran an insurance business from 1983 to 1993, and stayed active in Kinsmen Club work and Tele-miracle fundraising. Premier Scott Moe later recalled that he loved his community, his province, public services, and even the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Krawetz cast himself as a practical rural voice: a teacher, farmer, and small-business owner who valued school boards, local decision-making, and balanced budgets. In opposition and government he stressed education, finance, and later Ukraine relations. After February 2022 he spoke bluntly about Vladimir Putin as a dictator and argued that Western countries could not condemn aggression while continuing business as usual with Russia.

His honours included the Canada 125 Medal (1993), a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, honorary life membership in the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association, and Ukraine's Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2009). As a former cabinet minister he retained the style The Honourable Ken Krawetz. After his death, flags at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building were lowered to half-mast.

Krawetz leaves a dual legacy: as a founder of the Saskatchewan Party who helped turn a fragile coalition into a governing force, and as a Ukrainian Canadian advocate who wrote Holodomor remembrance into provincial law and public ritual. Colleagues remembered his forcefulness in the chamber and his soft spot for constituents at kitchen tables. Brad Wall called him impossible to replace; Scott Moe said his big heart struggled only because he shared it so widely.

Ken Krawetz died on October 1, 2026, aged 75. A cause of death was not made public in initial reports. Premier Scott Moe announced the news, offered condolences on behalf of the party, government, and province, and ordered flags at the Legislative Building lowered to half-mast. Newsrooms across Saskatchewan, including 650 CKOM and CTV News, carried tributes to the teacher-turned-deputy-premier.